GOP leaders to Steele: Back off

GOP leaders, in a private meeting last month, delivered a blunt and at times heated message to RNC Chairman Michael Steele: quit meddling in policy.

The plea was made during what was supposed to be a routine discussion about polling matters and other priorities in House Minority Leader John Boehner’s office. But the session devolved into a heated discussion about the roles of congressional leadership and Steele, according to multiple people familiar with the meeting.

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The congressional leaders were particularly miffed that Steele had in late August unveiled a seniors’ “health care bill of rights” without consulting with them. The statement of health care principles, outlined in a Washington Post op-ed, began with a robust defense of Medicare that puzzled some in a party not known for its attachment to entitlements.

Elected Republicans urged Steele to focus on the governors’ races in New Jersey and Virginia and other political matters, such as fundraising, rather than on attempting to establish party policy.

Steele was taken aback by the comments from Boehner, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), Senate GOP conference Chairman Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Senate GOP policy Chairman John Thune of South Dakota and grew defensive during the 10-minute discussion, according to two people in the room.

The RNC, according to one source, was planning to roll out more policy initiatives.

Steele said he was getting asked during his travels around the country where the GOP stood on a range of issues and that he wanted to respond to these questions.

And at one point, Steele, a Washington native, said that his upbringing in the “streets” made him a fighter and that he was determined to continue fighting and aggressively defending the party, according to two people familiar with the account.

Alexander, who initiated the discussion and, sources say, was the most uneasy about Steele’s crafting policy, told POLITICO that he spoke to Steele last weekend about the matter and that the congressional leadership and the RNC chairman are now all on the same page.

“We had a good discussion,” Alexander said. “I think what he’s trying to do is correct. He’s trying to focus what he says on the threat that these health care bills have to seniors. And we wanted to make sure that the policy that he was talking about — that the policy was developed by the Congress. And I had a good conversation with Michael after our meeting, and I’m perfectly satisfied that that’s what he’s doing.”